tumbledry

Benny Lava

Nils writes:

This video describes visually and aurally what Indian culture is all about: Benny Lava. I have never seen a more educational video on Indians than this one right here.

I want to be Benny Lava,
Nils

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Happy Birthday

Warner Chappell Music owns the copyright to the song “Happy Birthday to You.” You may view the lyrics and request a license for performing the song in public. Can I get a “lame”?

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Music & Copyright: An Overview

Update: Preface removed. Reason: it was dumb. Onward…

A favorite topic at Slashdot centers around the music industry, CD sales, and online distribution of music — naturally, the latest coverage of this topic elicited some interesting discussion. Here’s a quote (with slight editing for clarity) from a commenter:

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Sleep Music

The Wikipedia article about sleep talking offers this: “One famous sleep talker is Dion McGregor, a man who became something of an underground celebrity when his roommate Michael Barr recorded his nightly soliloquies (which were often hilariously detailed), which were then released as a series of albums in the 60’s.” With that said, how can you not click to read more about Dion McGregor?

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Nickelback Video

View the video here: YouTube - Nickelback - Savin’ Me, and tell me that isn’t the coolest concept you’ve seen for a music video in a long time.

Photos + John Mayer

Picture update coming soon - it’s been about two weeks since I put new pictures up! This will be exciting. I’ll try to get some good ones up. In the meantime, listen to John Mayer’s song “3x5.” Or, leave your own recommendation for me.

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Bloc Party Clip

2:37 into Bloc Party’s song This Modern Love from their 2005 Silent Alarm release is one of my favorite moments in music from the past couple of years. There’s just this massive wave of sound and emotion coming through the speakers when the melody is torn down to it’s essentials; the whirlwind tour through major chord harmonies by overdubbed voices sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.

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An Album That Causes Happiness

In terms of a public address system, tumbledry is really only a whisper in a gigantic stadium, drown out by the slightest clamor anywhere else. As such, I have never really intended to announce trends or write on the cutting edge of anything — if such writing does see the light of day, it is only because my interests coincided with that which was in vogue. This limits the scope of tumbledry and makes it merely a personal conversation with folks about my life and the things from it I choose to record. In the case of this entry, I feel an urgent need to express my infatuation with an album I ran across (courtesy of Mykala). Knowing that the whisper will be drown out doesn’t make the recommendation feel any less important.

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Amen Break

If you have 20 minutes, then you can watch this great video which “explains the world’s most important 6-sec drum loop.” A commenter on the video writes: “This was probably the most educational sixteen minutes I’ve spent all week.”

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Jeremy Messersmith

Jeremy Messersmith, a Minneapolis musician who Mykala brought to my attention recently, has a good set of tunes from his latest album at his website. You can listen to his entire track “7:02,” which Mykala had been searching for. Perhaps she found it here. You can, too! If you really dig the stuff, you can purchase Jeremy’s latest effort, “The Alcatraz Kid,” for $10.

Trading Yesterday

Trading Yesterday is a great take on uplifting alt rock. Very major chords — which I’ve been known to love. They’re changing their name soon and releasing an album in the next month or so.

I’m not sure why they are changing their name… I wonder what they will be called in the future?

Metro Jam

This is the Twin Cities band my uncle Chris is in: Metro Jam Band - Classic Dance Favorites Plus Today’s Top Hits. I dig the sound, and they’re great live! Oh, and Chris also teaches guitar lessons.

Sea Wolf & The Notwist

“Now it’s only work
Each day bleeding into the next
Barely scraping by I tire myself out just so I can rest
But rest it rightly comes
And when it does I come out and go home
Because it’s much too quiet
Seems that I’m not suited to being in love
And everyone around me’s changed
But the garden that you planted remains.”

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Sad Song

This is the most stunning thing I’ve seen online in over a year. A certain Mr. Fredo Viola created something he calls the Sad Song Video, which was made only using 15 second clips from his digital camera. Incredible production, haunting melodies — today, I’m happy for the internet.

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Random Thoughts

Here are some random thoughts that, individually, would struggle to make a complete post. Together, they will become more.

#1
I had a #11 Country Club at Jimmy John’s. This is Mykala’s sandwich, and I tried it today. I loved it. Just loved it. It’s made of “fresh sliced turkey breast, applewood smoked ham, provolone, and tons of lettuce, tomato, and mayo.”

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Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace - Why not watch Victor Wooten play Amazing Grace on a bass guitar, using only the harmonics of the instrument for the melody? Treeeemendous.

Joseph Bertolozzi Plays the Franklin D. Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge

Joseph Bertolozzi Plays the Franklin D. Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge - I don’t mean he’s playing at the bridge, I mean he’s playing the bridge. In a project not unlike Bill Fontana’s sound sculpture “Oscillating Steel Grids along the Brooklyn Bridge,” Mr. Bertolozzi is in the process of sampling sound using contact microphones from the bridge itself. Certainly, this concept would be cool on its own: if you listen to the movement Bridge Funk, a small piece played on the bridge used to gain approval for the project, you’ll find that the music sounds very, very cool—much more musically intricate than you would imagine a bridge sounding. However, this project will not simply culminate in a digital collection of sounds assembled into music. The composer is writing out an entire 40-60 minute score to be performed live and piped into a nearby park in 2009.

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Record industry - doomed

Record industry - doomed - The music executives were dinosaurs; therefore, the article concludes, their inability to adapt seems to spell the end of the record industry (emphasis mine):

… many in the industry see the last seven years as a series of botched opportunities. And among the biggest, they say, was the labels’ failure to address online piracy at the beginning by making peace with the first file-sharing service, Napster. “They left billions and billions of dollars on the table by suing Napster — that was the moment that the labels killed themselves,” says Jeff Kwatinetz, CEO of management company the Firm. “The record business had an unbelievable opportunity there. They were all using the same service. It was as if everybody was listening to the same radio station. Then Napster shut down, and all those 30 or 40 million people went to other [file-sharing services].”

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Here’s A Love Song

Let’s set aside the cryptic message of the lyrics in my previous post and look to the bare poetry of this one; it’s really really nice. This is a great song. It’s by Syd as in Syd Matters the French musician, not Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. The name of the song is “Here’s a Love Song.” The previous link is a more produced version than the one I have (I’ve just guitar and singing), but I think you’ll enjoy it, nonetheless. Oh, and the bridge in that linked version is new to me, too. Anyway…

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Polaris

I feel that when I’m old
I’ll look at you and know
The world was beautiful

Then you tell me
You say that love goes anywhere
In your darkest time, it’s just enough to know it’s there

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